Afterlife
by Cornelialovecaleb
Summary: Thorugh a portal Serah ends up in another world, she ends up in Crisis core. story contains some spoilers from FF Crisis Core since it will follow that plot until Advent Children. Both FF13, FF13-2 and FF7 characters will make their apperance. I own nothg


Chapter 1:

It was dark, it was raining and to top all of that it was cold. In the distance a man with spiky black hair could be seen. He lied on the ground and his breath came in sharp, small pants. His hair and skin was covered in his own blood. A blonde man, clearly injured as well was crawling towards him. The dark haired man opened his genuine blue eyes, only to see that he had gotten himself a visitor. Beside him sat a blonde boy, it looked like he was about to cry.

"Zack…" The blonde man muttered, Zack made a noise of pain. The rain washed his blood away, but it wasn't much of a help since he was still bleeding.

"For the both of us" Zack managed to say, the blonde boy looked confused. He tilted his head to one side and stared down on his injured friend. The sight devastated him, his best friend in a pool of his own blood.

"For the both of us?" Cloud wondered, his voice was low. Zack had to focus to hear him, then he nodded. "That's right, you're gonna.." he had to take a break, he was in too much pain and couldn't express himself clearly. Cloud was getting frustrated and sad, but he didn't show it on the outside. Yet again he repeated his dark haired friend. Zack reached then out his arm to touch the back of Cloud's head. The blonde boy got pulled down and his head lied flat against Zack's chest. "live" Zack finished, still holding onto Cloud. Cloud thought that the dark haired man wasn't making much sense, since he wanted him to survive, they were friends. Actually the wounded SOLDIER had been his greatest friend, they had shared everything together. Zack opened his mouth again and inhaled deeply. "you'll be… my living legacy". Zack's hand fell to the ground, slowly the petite blonde boy lifted his head from his friend's chest. His blonde hair and half of his face was covered in his friend's blood. Then he focused on the Sword in Zack's hand. "My honour, my dreams" Zack took another break while he lifted up the sword and handed it to his friend. "they all belong to you now". The wounded man held the sword toward Cloud, who accepted it and brought it to his chest.

Cloud closed his eyes, went silent for awhile then he gazed down onto his friend. "I'm your… living legacy" he stated with his broken voice. He had trouble speaking and stumbled in his own words, his voice was like a whisper. Zack had wanted to hear those words, he closed his eyes for the last time. Cloud didn't understand that his friend was gone, not yet. In the beginning he denied it, and then he finally accepted the fact that Zack was no longer with him. The blonde haired man was frozen by both shock and horror. He inhaled then he screamed at the top of his lungs, a cream so piercing and haunting that it could scare people who heard it. A scream filled with so much agony and pain, Cloud had lost his best friend, and a hero.

Serah was jolted awake, she screamed twice as loud as the blonde man she had seen in her vision. She touched her forehead, something was running down her face. She panicked, was it blood? No, just sweat. The pink haired girl tried to collect her train of thoughts, what had she just witnessed? She clearly didn't know any of them. Her cat, was sound asleep beside her. Sometimes she wished that she could sleep like that as well, but lately she had gotten some weird dreams or visions. It was always the same things, this dark haired man known as Zack dying. But now was the first time that she had gotten the whole vision. Earlier she had only gotten tiny bits of it. She sat up in bed, and stared out the window.

"Who are you?" she didn't get an answer to her question, but she did hear her cat snoring. Something weird was happening to her mirror, she could see green waves dancing inside of it. She walked towards the mirror and touched the surface with her palm. In the beginning, nothing happened. Then her palm was disappearing into the mirror, she quickly pulled away. Serah felt both fear and confusion, but at the same time she wanted to see the things that was inside of it.

Could she leave without saying good bye to her friends, her students? She had always believed that she could find her sister again, could she find her inside of this mirror? Was this an portal to the past? Or a portal to the future, if she stepped inside of it could she reunite with Lightning there? She had so many unanswered questions, and her mind was clouded with doubt. If she left now, what guarantee had she that she could go back home?

"what do you think Snow? Should I go" she turned around to face the cat, she had missed Snow so much that she had named her cat after him. The cat slept on, and wasn't bothered by her question.

"I guess that means yes" Serah thought, and then she touched the mirror once again.

'Where am I?' Serah wondered as she strolled down one of the streets. Her surroundings didn't look any familiar at all. A green, wavy light had appeared in her mirror, she had touched it and somehow got sucked into the mirror and ended up in a different town. The rest of her friends would have questioned her sanity, since getting sucked into a mirror was rather complicated. She couldn't see the sky, the surroundings were dark & filthy. She saw a church, and decided to visit it. Serah opened the door, stepped inside and saw some beautiful Lilies and a flower wagon. She touched one petal with her forefinger, how soft and smooth it felt against her finger. She heard somebody, and this somebody had a conversation with another person. "Do you really think that we could sell this flowers for one gil?" Aeris wondered, Serah had hidden herself behind one of the benches, flat against the floor on her stomach. Some grass tickled her nose, she fought the urge to sneeze. The pink haired girl could only see their legs, she guessed it was one girl and one boy, judged by the shoes they wore.

"You never know if you never try" A deeper voice this time, it sounded a little bit husky to her. Somehow his voice reminded her of Snow, but that wasn't possible because she had never been in this church before. "There's hardly any flowers left in Midgar, they're quite rare" he added. He moved a little farther away from the flowers. "I mean I guess you could earn some money from them if you really tried."

"Atchoo!" Serah quickly covered her nose and hoped that no one had heard her. Aeris quickly turned around, but she couldn't see anybody. She tilted her head and stared at Zack with her emerald green eyes. "what was that"."I'm not sure, but I surely hope that it isn't that ninja kid, she has been following me for days during my missions. She plays tough, and steals my items" he sighed heavily, and it made Aeris laugh. A child? He was a SOLDIER and he complained about being stalked by a kid. Serah regret everything, she hated the fact that she had left her kitty alone, and not asked any of her friends to take care of it. At the same time she wondered whether she had travelled to the future, or the past. Zack spotted some pink strains lying on the floor, he stepped right behind the bench, bent over and faced the girl.

"AHA!" He exclaimed, Aeris looked worried and took some steps backwards. She crossed her arms over her chest and squinted her eyes, she tried to see the same person as Zack had found. Serah smacked the back of her head into the bench with a loud noise. "A man, that hurt" she muttered to herself. She crawled towards Zack and got onto her legs again, desperately trying to brush the dust off from her clothes. "And who are you?" The dark haired man added and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm Serah, Serah Farron, and who are you?" She saw a beautiful woman, with a white dress decorated with flowers. She had a long, brown braid and green eyes. She didn't look any familiar, surely Serah would have remembered her if they had met before. And the man in front of her… why did he look like Noel? Or at least he looked similar to Noel, maybe it was because she had hit her head so badly. But this guy had more spikes, he had also clear blue eyes and… a military uniform?"Noel?" the words left her mouth before she was able to stop them, Zack looked even more confused than ever. He offered her his hand, and smiled.

"No, Serah. My name is Zack, Zack Fair. And this is my friend, Aeris" Zack made a motion with his hand, a sign that Aeris should come closer.

"Nice to meet you Serah, how did you get here?" Aeris wondered. She looked friendly, and peaceful. Actually she resembled a goddess, or something divine. Both Zack and Aeris stared at the girl with the pink hair, Serah bit her lip.

"That's a tough question, I'm not really sure, but I think I'm from the future…" Zack looked even more sceptical, and crossed his arms.

"did you leap through the time? How's that even possible?" Serah looked away, she knew she would hear those words eventually, she tried to change the subject again, smiled and walked towards the church door.

"I'm looking for someone, have you guys seen my sister? Her name is Lightning, she looks a bit like me, but her hair is shorter." Both Zack and Aeris shook their heads. Serah smiled, then opened the door and stepped outside.

"I'll keep on looking then, nice to meet you."

Serah had arrived at some playground looking area in the slums, still looking for her sister. Then she herd those voices again. Kids were running around playing, one of them collided with her. It didn't hurt her, but the child excused herself and continued to run after some of her friends. Serah could hear Aeris' voice again, but she couldn't hear what they discussed.

"so, met any SOLDIER members yet?" Aeris wondered, Zack walked right behind the slender lady.

Her question startled Zack, he just hoped that he wouldn't scare her away.

"maybe" he said, doubt clear as the sun in his voice. Aeris continued to stare to the ground.

"do you think that they are happy?" her words made the man stop.

"what do you mean?" Zack asked her, she touched her hand and continued on. "heroes to children, protectors of peace…" she paused. Zack was still standing behind her, Serah could now hear their conversation. She was perhaps closer than the pair were aware of. "but they're not normal" Aeris completed her sentence. Serah felt like she was about to collapse, the L'Ciemark on her arm was a reminder that she wasn't as normal as the rest either.

"They get some special surgery. Don't they?" Aeris commented and turned around to face Zack, but Zack didn't face her. Zack felt both hurt and offended but he refused to admit it, he had been called a monster, and constantly reminded that he wasn't normal. "so they say" he replied in a dry tone.

"Normal is best, I think so… at least" Aeris turned away and didn't face Zack anymore, "those SOLDIER people are… kinda weird." this offended Zack even more, he crossed his arms and stared to the ground. "Weird, huh?" he mumbled, Aeris touched her chin and closed her green eyes. "and they're also scary… they fight, and they love it", Aeris gazed worriedly over at Zack.

"Actually, I'm with SOLDIER" his comment shocked her, and she apologized right after. The air was filled with a thick silence, until she noticed how blue his eyes were.

"so beautiful" she mumbled, Zack noticed her comment and touched his cheek. "what, the face?" he said ironically, it made her laugh. "No, your eyes." she laughed, Zack walked towards her. "if you like them, why don't you take a closer look? Eyes filled with mako energy."

'What's mako energy?' Serah thought to herself as she listened to their conversation. Aeris and Zack stood right in front of each other. "A SOLDIER trademark" he clarified, then he stared deeply into Aeris' green eyes. She looked away after some time, then she pushed him away.

"oh stop it" Both of them laughed.

"colour of the sky, am I right?" Zack wondered, Aeris nodded in agreement and confessed that now they didn't look any scary at all.

"I have to say, that things haven't been normal at all lately…" Zack turned his back on her, yet again the girl with the brown braid agreed. Zack turned around to face her again

"What about you Aeris, how has your life gone lately?" he asked with curiosity. It made her giggle, now she turned her back on him and crossed her arms. "I was thinking that it would be a normal day, but then you fell from the sky and then the girl with the pink hair appeared out of no where. Two surprises in one day." Aeris confessed.

"it could have been worse" he said, and she agreed.


End file.
